A new scam has surfaced in the Upper Peninsula, but it involves a money card that is becoming popular.

Trooper Ailene Bitnar of the Sault Ste. Marie Post of the Michigan State Police said the new scam also is spreading through social media and involves Moneypak or Green Dot cards.

“Green Dot is highly untraceable,” she said. “It is a cash card”

How the new scam works is that individuals on the phone say they are a federal agent and that with the sending of a Moneypak card they, in turn, will send a $7,000 check back in the mail.

The numbers identified so far in the scam include (222) 222-2245, (202) 738-1655 and (206) 701-0285.

“A lot of these scams are not really news, but they have different twists,” Bitnar said. “Most are from overseas that we can’t solve.”

The trooper said the scammers know thresholds and try to stay beneath them.

“The feds are trying to build a database. The threshold is so high because the FBI will not investigate unless it involves $10,000 or more,” Bitnar said. “A lot of this has to do with the economy and people with no jobs are trying to find out how to scam people.”

She said if you have become a victim of one of these scams, there is an Internet Crime Complaint Center where a report can be filed. The address is www.ftc.gov/complaint.

Some tips on how to avoid becoming a scam victim:

* do not respond to unsolicited (spam) email

* do not click on links contained within an unsolicited email

* avoid filling out forms asking for personal information

* contact the actual business that supposedly has sent an email to make sure it is genuine

* if you have to act quickly or there is an emergency, it may be a scam